The Search
by ScreamingSnow
Summary: Prince Antonio of Spain wants to marry someone who will love him for who he is-not what he is. He decides to go under cover as a student in a school in Italy, enlisting the help of Romero Vargas and his eldest grandson to help him blend in with the normal crowd. With a romanticist as his current guardian and the outcast Lovino as his guide, how will the prince fare?
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I had this idea and I'm determined to finish it... So many story ideas, so little time with school! I hate being a senior!

**Summary**: Prince Antonio of Spain wants to marry someone who will love him for who he is-not what he is. He decides to go under cover as a student in a school in Italy, enlisting the help of Romero Vargas and his eldest grandson to help him blend in with the normal crowd.

**Genre**: Romance, some drama

**Pairings**: Spamano, GerIta

**Story Type**: Human Gakuen (modern)royal AU (basically, all technology is the same but every country, with a few exceptions, has a royal family)

**NOTE**:Antonio's real name in this story is Antonio Fernández Cardona, Carriedo is a cover name so people don't realize he's the prince of Spain.

**Warnings**:Yaoi, made-up illnesses and general lack of medical knowledge, ill!talented!Lovino, douchebag!neglective!uncaring!parents, Marcello the third Vargas bro, worried!Feli, regular bullshit and Lovi's mouth.

**Disclaimer**:I own nothing. I'm not that good at writing.

SS out~

* * *

Antonio frowned slightly and stared at the curtains on his window. He had turned seventeen just days before, and already his parents were pressuring him about a wife to become queen... or even a husband to rule alongside him.

The Spanish prince frowned and shook his head, green eyes rather blank as he was in deep thought. He didn't want to marry someone just because his mother wanted him to. He didn't want to marry someone who wanted to be a royal.

He wanted to marry someone who would love him for him. Someone who would look at him in his royal apparel and tell him to go change into something else because he looked stupid dressed in a long red cape laced with gold trailing the ground... someone who wanted him to be himself, not what others wanted him to be. Someone who would stick by his side no matter what.

Of course, Antonio knew he most likely wouldn't find someone like that in Spain, or if he did he wouldn't quite know if it was genuine.

Suddenly his eyes brightened and a face-splitting grin sprung to his lips. _I've got it!_ he thought to himself. _I won't look in Spain! And I won't reveal myself to be a prince! This is great! Now, just to talk to my parents about it..._

The Spaniard got up and hurried out of his room. "Mother, Father!" he called, going to their chambers. He knew it was the middle of the night but he didn't care. He pushed his parents' door open just in time to see his mother sitting up.

"What is it, Antonio?" she asked, sleepily rubbing an eye.

"I have an idea to find a wife! Or husband, whatever!" he answered excitedly. She blinked and lowered her hand. Before she could ask, Antonio continued with, "I have to go under cover! I should go to a school in another country where I wouldn't be so easily recognized, and no one would know I'm the prince of Spain and then I'll know if they love me for me or for my power!"

"Antonio, I'm not sure-"

"That's a great idea!" Antonio's father interrupted, smiling brightly as he too sat up. "We will have to arrange somewhere for you to stay and have someone who can show you how to blend in with the locals, though. Someone trustworthy who knows of your identity... I know just the person! But we'll call in the morning."

"Edelmiro!" the queen exclaimed, but Antonio was already grinning and running back to his room to pack up. He had yet to realize he'd need to buy an entirely new wardrobe upon reaching this other country...

**-The Next Morning-**

Antonio was practically flying as he rushed around getting ready. He wanted to leave as soon as preparations were made. "And you said you and father will just say I am going into training, si?" he asked his mother as he packed his toothbrush, toothpaste, and floss away.

"Si, si," his mother, Queen Graciela, sighed. "I can't believe you're doing this..."

"Don't worry, Mother," Antonio smiled, turning around and giving her a hug. "I'll be back before my eighteenth birthday!"

"I know..."

"Alright, I found the perfect place!" Edelmiro called, coming into the room. His crown was a bit lopsided, and his wife was quick to fix it. "You'll be attending this place called 'Ruscello Liceo'!"

"And that means what and where is it?" Graciela asked, crossing her arms.

"It means something like Brook High School, I guess like the stream-type brook," Edlemiro answered with a shrug. "And it's in Rome, Italy."

"Where would I be staying?" It was Antonio's turn to ask.

"The family Vargas," his father answered again. "They're an aristocratic family in Rome. Romero Vargas lives with his son, daughter-in-law, and his three grandsons!"

"That's a lot of people to know the truth..." Antonio trailed.

"No, no, only Romero and his eldest grandson, who is in the same grade as you, will know the truth. I think he said his name is Lovino? Anyway, he's supposed to help you look more like a normal Italian citizen!" the Spaniard said cheerfully. "Oh, already packed? Alright~"

**-Meanwhile-**

Lovino Vargas was _not_ having a good day to say the least

First he woke up late with a brain-shattering migraine which he had to wait out since his medicine did damn well nothing when the migraine was that bad. He lay in bed for ten straight minutes before convincing himself to get up and face the day.

Then when he went downstairs, his mother was making pasta for breakfast. He wasn't surprised, of course. The irritating thing was the fact there were only four plates set out, despite the fact six people lived in the house.

After that he went to paint something but God damn it all, he couldn't concentrate with that migraine! And he couldn't even go into his tomato garden and collect tomatos because the sun would only make his migraine worse.

To top it off, his younger brothers Feliciano and Marcello were singing. _Singing._ Ugh! Sure they were good singers, but couldn't they give a guy a break?!

The news about their houseguest was icing on the cupcake, and it was only nine o'clock in the morning.

"Yay, foreign exchange student is staying with us!" Feli cheered and jumped up and down excitedly.

"Isn't it a bit early for the exchange program to start?" Lovino's mother, Alcina, asked curiously.

"It is," Romero answered, smiling at his daughter-in-law. "His parents wish to go on vacation but wouldn't be home in time with the tickets they have-they're going to America!- so I said they could send him over early!"

"Well... alright," the father, Luciano, mumbled with a shrug. "Alright."

"When will he get here?" Marcello asked, looking a little excited despite his attempt to keep his hazel eyes neutral.

"Any time in the next week~" Romero practically sang, much to Lovino's annoyance. "Oh! Lovi~ I need to talk to you privately~" Lovino scowled, his golden-brown eyes darkening as he followed his grandfather into the kitchen away from the family room.

"What is it, Nonno?" Lovino demanded, glaring at the older, taller Italian. He hated that it was like looking in a mirror of the future.

"The boy we are housing is Prince Antonio Fernández Cardona," Romero told him. Lovino blinked, surprise reflecting in his eyes. "He is going under cover to find someone to marry-someone who will love him for him-before his eighteenth birthday. I want you to watch over him at school and teach him how to fit in."

"Nonno! I'm an outcast at school!" Lovino hissed. "You know that!"

"Si si, I know," Romero sighed. "But he is in your grade, and Feliciano can't keep many secrets very well-"

"He keeps my secret pretty well."

"Yes, but you're his big brother. Anyway, Marcello isn't even in high school yet, so he can't help." Romero hesitated. "Besides that, his parents are willing to pay me for this..."

"Grandpa, we have all the money we need, remember?"

"That's in your parents' names, Lovino, they've restricted my access after... last time." Romero leaned down closer to his grandson, worry shining in his equally-golden eyes. "Lovi, tell me, is your head hurting?" Lovino's scowl deepened but he curtly nodded an affirmative. "Lovi, we don't need to try and get your parents to finally agree. With the amount of money they're giving us each month to house and feed their son, I could save up enough to send you to that doctor in America sometime in the next six, seven months. You could finally get that operation your parents refuse to pay for."

**-To Be Continued-**

**Note**: I used the name Edelmiro, a variant of the (Ancient)Germanic Adelmar, from 'adal "noble" and meri "famous".' I used "Graciela" which means "grace". I forget why I used those names for Lovino's family... They all sound rather old fashioned but yea.

Sorry for short chapter, it's just an introduction really.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: So it's final exams week, but I'm exempt since I have perfect attendance. I have absolutely no school the remainder of this week, so I'll use this extra freetime without my sister here to write!

SS out~

* * *

Hardly a week had passed since the arrangement had been made before the young prince found himself in the airport in Rome. Of course he hadn't come straight from Spain, that would mean he had some of his own citizens on the plane who would recognize him; he'd gone to France before flying to Italy.

Around him there was rapid, cheerful speech. He could only make out bits and pieces, not exactly being fluent in Italian. Instead he submitted himself to looking around for any signs of "Romero" or "Lovino", neither of which he really knew the physical appearance of. He was hoping whoever was there to greet him would be holding a sign of some sort...

Antonio felt a hand land on his shoulder and a cheerful but deep voice call out, "Ciao!" He turned around to face the man, who was a bit taller than him and looked no older than forty. His hair was dark brown and eyes golden-looking. He had the strangest curl sticking out from his otherwise perfect hair. "Are you Antonio?"

The prince nodded, smiling brightly. "Are you Señor Vargas?"

"Si, si!" the older man laughed. "This is good, quick finding. Come on, we need to get home so you can meet mio famiglia~"

Romero lead the Spaniard to the luggage collection area and picked up the baggage. "Why pack so much?" he asked, still smiling cheerfully. "We're going to have to buy you new clothes. Not even Italian royalty dresses in red silk~" he giggled. Actually _giggled_. Antonio decided he liked this Italian and smiled.

"Just in case. I wouldn't want to be too much of a burden, Señor! You're already doing so much to help me," the young prince answered, following the man out to the car. "Oh, um... if you don't mind me asking, but how can you have a grandson my age? You don't look a day over forty... if even that..."

The Italian man laughed at that. "Grazie for saying so, Antonio! I'm actually in my mid sixties! My son is in his forties, though. Good to know I look good for my age~!" He set the luggages in the trunk of the car, which was a stark red colour, then went around and unlocked the car door. "Get in, get in~"

Antonio got in the passenger seat, noticing there wasn't a backseat. The front seat was comfortable enough; it was a soft but apparently strong fabric and was coloured black, a strong contrast to the tan interior. "If there are five other people in your family, why does this car have no back seat?"

"It's actually my grandson's car~ Lovino's, that is. Sometimes he and Feliciano will take little trips to get away from home for a while," he answered. "Marcello-the youngest-sometimes goes instead of Feliciano, but the three of them never go anywhere at the same time since there's only two seats." He paused, thinking for a few moments. "Lovino hasn't been allowed to drive for the past few months, to be honest."

"Why? Did he get in trouble?" Antonio asked, glancing over at Romero, a curious glint in his eyes.

"You could say that. You'll know soon enough, anyway; you'll be sharing a room with him," Romero told Antonio, smiling slightly. It was one of his bright giddy smiles, it was more of a somber in-thought one. "We only have four rooms in our house; one for me, one for Lovino's parents, one for Lovino since he's the eldest, and Feliciano and Marcello share a room. So you're stuck bunking with Lovi~!" The bright smile was back.

Antonio hadn't even realized how he had sunken in his seat a little when the absence of that bright smile came, but once it was back in place he felt as though a weight of some kind was lifted off of him and he sat up straight again. He glanced around at the signs, trying to figure out where they were going.

"So, do you live in Rome or outside of it?" Antonio finally asked after a few minutes of silence.

"We live just outside of the city limits, near a little suburb~. But like most high-class families," he started with a sigh, "we live in a large house on a large plot of land that my father and grandfather before me owned."

"You... don't sound happy about that," the Spaniard noted, clutching the armrest as Romero took a turn a little sharper than necessary.

"Oh no, it's great! It is great, we even have our own horses out back that we hired someone to care for every day when no one else has time. Lovino and Feliciano love riding horses, though Marcello is afraid he might get trampled... those two usually go out and care for them unless they have school."

"Then why do you sound so unhappy about it all?"

Romero frowned slightly, a look that didn't fit in Antonio's opinion. It seemed foreign. "Well... six people are in this family, but the house still feels so lonely and cold and... empty. It wasn't like that when I was a kid~" he sang half-heartedly. "It used to be alive," he went on. "But when Lovino started high school, he stopped inviting his friends over. Feliciano never invites anyone over either, instead he goes to other people's houses, and Marcello would rather be anywhere but home. Their parents are so quiet nowadays except when Feliciano is home... when I was a child, even though I was an only child, the house was always so alive! I had friends over every day, my parents made time to play games with us all, we'd run through the house and trip down stairs and hide in hard-to-see places! It was always such fun..."

"Well... why isn't it like that now?" Antonio asked, frowning. He had slumped down in his seat again, the heavy atmosphere getting to him.

"Circumstances. But let's not worry about that anymore~!" They pulled into a neighborhood and Romero drove slowly down the street, watching the kids playing to make sure none of them ran into the street. Parents watching their kids smiled and waved at Romero, who smiled and waved back. "It's time to think on your name."

"My name?"

"Yes, well, you can't exactly introduce yourself as "Antonio Fernández Cardona" now can you?" Romero shook his head, laughing. "Even if no one in Italy knows your face, they know your name!"

Antonio frowned. "Can I keep my name as Antonio?" he asked slowly. "I'm not sure I can remember to react to a different name."

"Of course~ Hm... Antonio Fernández has a ring to it~ How about Antonio Fernández Carriedo~? It has a nice flow to it! And Fernández is a common surname in Spain, right? So Antonio Fernández Carriedo it is!"

"Alright," Antonio agreed with a laugh. He was a bit confused how the atmosphere could lighten up so fast, but he didn't question it. He was glad.

"Oh, warning~ Lovino has to have breakfast before seven o'clock, so he wakes up at six o'clock~ Just a warning!"

"Oh, what time does school start here?" Antonio questioned, having never attended an actual school.

"Well~ The principal here is American so it's sort of Americanized~ It starts at about seven forty-five and has seven classes~ You and Lovino will have the exact same schedule, by the way!"

"Ah... how strange for school to start then," Antonio commented, smiling slightly. Romero shrugged slightly as he finally turned in a long driveway.

Antonio watched as the house came into view. It was a large house indeed, three stories! It looked more like a small manor than a large house, with large tan stones and dark brown shingles on the roof and two fireplaces. Antonio silently questioned how a house that big could _only_ have four bedrooms.

"Here we are!" Romero pulled up beside two other cars, one a large gold van of some type-Antonio wasn't very good at identifying cars- and the other yet another red car, only that one looked like a sports car. "Time to meet the family, Antonio Fernández Carriedo!"

* * *

Antonio didn't really know what he was expecting. A family full of Romero's, possibly? But only one person there seemed to act like Romero in the slightest, and he was way bubbly...er... more bubbly? Ah, whatever.

There were only four people to meet them in the foyer. It was obvious they were all related; the parents lacked the curl Romero and their sons had, though.

Romero's son had dark brown hair, like Romero, but green eyes instead of gold. His wife had auburn hair that fell to about mid-back, and she had hazel eyes.

The first grandson Antonio noticed looked a lot like his mother; auburn hair, fair skin-for an Italian-, soft facial features, he was adorable! The boy's eyes were closed so Antonio didn't get a good look at his eyes... but he had the same curl as his grandfather, and a smile on his face.

Beside the cute Italian that Antonio secretly hoped was Lovino stood a shorter boy, obviously younger. Antonio guessed he was in middle school, so this must have been Marcello! He had dark brown hair like his father and grandfather, hazel eyes and fair skin-for an Italian- like his mother, but sharper features than his older brother. He also had Romero's curl but a slight frown on his face.

_Where was the third?_ Antonio silently wondered.

"Feli, where's Lovi?" Romero whined, looking at the auburn-haired boy, apparently Feliciano. Antonio couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed.

"Ve~ He's in his room..." Feli answered, his curl seeming to droop. "Should I go get him? He's not in a good way, nonno..."

"I'll go get him, you just meet Antonio~!" With that, Romero headed towards a door on the right where Antonio assumed a staircase was.

"Ciao!" the father started, smiling slightly. "I'm Luciano, and this lovely woman is my wife Alcina."

"Hello," Alcina greeted, smiling kindly at Antonio. "These are our sons, Feliciano~ and Marcello." Antonio didn't miss the difference in tone, and neither did the sons. Both of them slouched slightly, and Feliciano's smile dimmed, but it went unnoticed by Alcina and Luciano. "Our third son is upstairs still. What's your name?"

"I'm Antonio Fernández Car-Carriedo!" Antonio answered, smiling brightly despite almost slipping up. "It's nice to meet you all."

"You'll be thinking that until you meet Lovino," Luciano sighed. As he said this, there was the sound of feet on the stairs and grumbling complaints. "Ah, here he comes."

The door opened and Antonio was, to say the least, startled. The boy looked like a miniature Romero! His hair was lighter than Romero's, to be fair, and had an auburn tint to it, but still... he also had the curl and darker skin than both of his brothers. His eyes were gold, just like Romero's, and his features were a perfect balance between his brothers' features; not sharp, but not soft like a woman's.

The only big difference was the glare and the scowl. He stood by the door with his arms crossed over his chest, scowling and glaring around.

"What is it? Oh, you. I forgot you were coming today, dammit," the boy complained, glancing up and down Antonio's body. "The fuck are you wearing? Nonno, tell me you're about to take him to the store. He looks ridiculous. Reeks of Spaniard high society. Feh..."

"Antonio, meet my eldest grandson, Lovino. Lovi~ Say hi~!"

Lovino rolled his eyes. "Hi, Spanish fucker. I'm your babysitter for the next nine damn months, and trust me, it's not by my own damn choice."

Antonio had a feeling this would be a long nine months.

**-To Be Continued-**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** Enjoying my freedom to write! Generally I'm still asleep as I write this, but I decided not to be a lazy-ass today and get some work done. Perhaps... I updated TOO soon...

M'kay, I don't want an overly-long A/N but I do want to reply to some reviews, and I for some reason don't like PMs. Call me strange...

**Ren23**: Por favor, disculpe mi pobre español! Yo no sé nada de español. Sin embargo, voy a intentar!  
No te preocupes por eso! Sé que no todo el mundo habla Inglés. Al igual que yo no hablo español! Yo realmente deseo que podría responder mejor que esto! De todos modos, estoy muy contento de que les guste mi historia! Te prometo que voy a terminar esta historia! Padres de Lovino son malos, sin duda. Gracias por el comentario!

Hope it's not TOO inaccurate, hehheh! *sweatdrop*

**Guest: **It gets worse. By the end of this story, you will probably hate Lovi's parents with every fiber of your being. They are evil little bitches and even Feliciano doesn't like them. Or perhaps I may redeem them. I haven't really decided yet. They'll either be redeemed or you'll hate them enough to want them dead...

**Kyouno-aru: **D'aww don't make me blush~ I'm glad you like it so much! And Lovi? Nice? Do those two even fit in the same sentence?

SS Out~!

* * *

"Hey, Lovino, here's an idea!" Romero started that night at the dinner table. "Tomorrow how about you and Antonio go to the store together?"

"I can't drive right now, idiota," Lovino reminded with an irritated scowl, twirling the spaghetti around his fork.

"Well, Antonio, do you have a driver's license?" Romero asked, looking at the undercover prince. The aforementioned prince had the decency to look sheepish.

"Um, not... not exactly. I never had a reason to learn to drive, _sabes_?" Antonio glanced around the table in time to see Lovino roll his eyes while Feliciano and Marcello looked at him in confusion. "Ah... in Spain, high classes have people to drive them around," he elaborated. Lovino scoffed at his lame, semi-true explanation.

"Ve~ How about we all go together?" Feliciano asked excitedly. "We can take the van! I mean it is the only vehicle big enough to hold us all~! Mama, Papa, can we-"

"I have work tomorrow," Luciano stated flatly. Feliciano's curl seemed to droop. "But we can all do something Saturday."

"Yay~!"

"Saturday?" Romero frowned, glancing over at Lovino. Antonio followed the glance and saw Lovino scowl and look away. "But Lovi has-"

"Ah, that's too bad, Saturday is the only free day we have," Luciano cut in with a shrug. The Spaniard frowned.

"I think I would rather go tomorrow, even if it is just me, Romero, and your sons," Antonio replied, earning a surprised glance from Lovino. Romero looked ecstatic; Antonio truly looked like someone who couldn't sense the atmosphere. The fact he caught on to the feelings amazed Romero.

"Yay~!" Feliciano cheered. "Can we, Mama, Papa? Nonno won't wreck this time!"

Antonio blinked. "This time?"

Ignoring Antonio, Feliciano went on. "Ve~ It'll be fun! And then we can go get gelato and-"

"This time?"

"-pasta and we can eat lunch at that French place, I hope they have pasta~, and-"

"Excuse me, but _this time_?"

"You're still on that, Spanish Bastard?" Antonio looked at Lovino while Feliciano continued chattering on about French restaurants having Italian food and ice cream and all that such nonsense. "It wasn't even Nonno's fault, he was only going fifty over the speed limit... and it was almost five years ago, dammit."

Antonio blinked owlishly while Lovino just scowled and looked away. To be honest, the prince usually wasn't very good at reading the atmosphere, but the Italians' moods were incredibly easy to read... even for him. He really believed he'd had an easier time reading the atmosphere in this house than the book he read to the first graders back in Madrid.

"The fuck are you staring at, Spanish bastard?" Lovino hissed after a minute. Antonio shrugged and just smiled his stupid grin while turning back to Feliciano, who was still talking about pasta and French restaurants. It was adorable, but even Antonio was starting to get a bit tired of it.

Five minutes passed and the conversation had since moved on from the French to Italians and Feliciano's desire to open up an Italian restaurant with both of his brothers, to which Lovino scoffed and Marcello just shrugged, staring at the pasta on his plate. Antonio simply watched as Feliciano attempted to give Lovino "hug therapy" and their mother shouted at them in Italian.

If Antonio had to guess what it was about, it was probably table mannerism or Lovino's cursing or... something.

The Spaniard smiled contently, watching the... twins? Were they twins? He didn't know... he watched them squirm, Lovino in the attempt to get away and Feliciano in the attempt to cheer his brother up.

For a moment, everything seemed wonderful. Romero was laughing, Marcello was smiling slightly, Feliciano was shouting in excited Italian and Lovino was shouting, though the irritation sounded empty to Antonio... even their parents seemed happy, even their screaming mother. It was a nice, exciting moment, nothing like Romero had described it during the car ride.

But of course... every moment comes to an end.

Somewhere in the house, a loud chime sounded. A grandfather clock, Antonio realized.

The chime was deep, a sequence of low notes in a familiar pattern that Antonio couldn't quite identify. The table had suddenly gone silent as they listened to the chimes.

A frown came over the Spaniard's face. He had been there for several hours, and grandfather clocks chimed hourly... but he hadn't heard it chime before then.

After the seventh or eighth chime, Feliciano let go of Lovino and sat back in his own chair. The air was suddenly tense... at least, Antonio thought it was. Everyone's posture was stiffer and no one was talking. Everyone was looking at their plates and no one was smiling anymore.

A few seconds of palpable silence passed and Lovino stood up. "I'm done," he mumbled, grabbing his half-empty plate and taking it into the kitchen before heading towards the stairs. "Feliciano can show you where my fucking room is later, Spanish bastard. You better be damn quiet when you come in or I'm going to push you out the fucking window."

Antonio blinked again, much in the same way as earlier. How could the mood change so much, he wondered. For a moment, everyone was happy, and now... no one was.

* * *

"And this is Fratello's room~ But be quiet, he's asleep~"

Antonio was on the second floor, standing in front of the room closest to the stairs. It had been a little while, but after Lovino left dinner the talking had resumed. Only the parents had seemed to go back to their normal state, though. The brothers and Romero were both more... reserved, if Antonio had to describe them.

And now, as they stood in the hallway, Feliciano was speaking in hushed tones as though afraid to wake Lovino. Antonio knew he'd find out why eventually, he was living with the boy after all, but he couldn't help but be extremely curious. He wanted to ask right there and then what was wrong, why Lovi had to leave when the clock struck eight, why he hadn't come back down again.

However, the curious Spaniard refrained from asking and said instead, "Gracias, Feliciano." He turned to the dark wooden door and carefully opened it, peaking in. It was pitch black in the room, and after his eyes adjusted enough to see shapes, he stepped fully in. "Goodnight, Feli."

Feli nodded and mumbled a quick "goodnight" before entering his own bedroom door. Antonio closed the door behind him and waited for his eyes to adjust more.

He noticed several things about the room. The first was that it was huge, very spacious. It didn't have many things; there were two beds, large but not too large. They were at the far end of the room, side by side with several feet between them. On the left side of the beds was a large wardrobe, though Antonio did notice aother door that he assumed was Lovino's closet.

To the right of the beds was a desk. He couldn't see what was on it- looked like books- but he could make out the shape of a computer monitor and modem, pushed to the far back of the desk as though Lovino didn't care about it.

There was a lump under the blanket of the bed on the left, so Antonio went to the bed to the right. He had never shared his bedroom before... of course, he lived in a castle with over twenty bedrooms and only had a sister with no brothers, but that was beside the point.

Between the two beds was a small table with an alarm clock sitting on it. School didn't start for another week, but Antonio could see it was set anyway.

He settled down under the thick, comfortable blanket on the second bed and watched Lovino's bed. The boy was interesting to the Spaniard.

Antonio smiled. "I'll just have to get to know you, then, yea?" he said quietly to himself and snuggled down into his new temporary bed. "You are helping me, after all..."

**-The Next Morning-**

Antonio was awoken by what sounded more like humming than screeching. He blinked his eyes awake and saw the outline of Lovino sitting up. It was still pitch black, he noted, and a glance at the... humming... clock told him it was only six o'clock. Why was Lovino waking up so early, he wondered...

It was only soft humming, and usually Antonio could just sleep through it, but something about it just... it demanded he wake up.

Lovino clicked the humming alarm off and barely glanced at Antonio. "Oh yea..." he grumbled, standing up out of the bed. "Go back to sleep, Bastard, I can see your eyes are open."

The Spaniard blinked and sat up instead, watching as Lovino walked out of the room and down the hall. Antonio just barely heard a door close.

After a few moments, he lay back down and quickly fell back asleep.

* * *

Later, when he'd finally woken up, Antonio stumbled out of his- Lovino's- room. It was about nine o'clock now, and a combination of his stomach and his bladder finally forced him to get out of the warmth that was bed. He loved sleep, he really did, he'd sleep all day if he could! But his normal bodily functions were screaming at him for the neglect.

It was then that Antonio realized he had no clue where the bathroom was.

Not the upstairs one, anyway.

Instead of struggling to find the upstairs bathroom and possibly bothering anyone, he chose to go downstairs and seek out the family bathroom down there. Once he had relieved himself and his bladder was no longer screaming profanities at him, and he had washed his hands like someone who cares about hygien, he found his way back to the kitchen and found...

Lovino and Feliciano in the kitchen cooking together.

He stood in the doorway and watched them. The two were the same height, he noticed. Lovino looked like a darker, mirrored version of Feliciano... though his features were quite a bit sharper. From where he was standing, he could see a bit of Lovino's face as he turned to say something to his brother.

The older Italian brother was smiling slightly.

It was only a small smile, very slight and barely noticeable, but Antonio could see it. It was a wonderful smile... and Antonio had a feeling that Feliciano agreed.

It was most likely a rare smile.

"Fratello, is Marcello still collecting the tomatoes?" Lovino asked Feliciano, not noticing the Spaniard watching them.

"Si, should I go tell him to bring what he has?" Feliciano asked with a bubbly giggle, hazel eyes open for the first time Antonio has seen. There was a shine in them that you normally couldn't see... after all, his eyes are usually closed.

Lovino gave a curt nod. "Please," he added as Feliciano skipped off to do as he was told. Antonio stepped around the doorway and out of sight. He had a feeling if Lovino saw him, he'd ruin the brothers' nice moment.

As much as he'd love to be a part of those nice moments, he knew he couldn't be.

**-To Be Continued-**

Okay, so apparently Lovino CAN be nice...


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N**: I'm taking so much advantage of being alone in my room! Ha! But seriously, should I slow down my updates? Because after tomorrow I probably won't be able to update nearly as much...

**A pirates life for Ellie**: Ha! Lovi as a vampire would be awesome, but sadly this is not so supernatural~ That's for a future story, wink wink. Sadly I don't know of any real life illnesses or diseases that have the qualities I'm looking for in this story (cause migraines and in turn, vertigo and fainting, medicine can dull the pain, and surgery can fix it completely). If you know any diseases or illnesses like this that don't include cancer, I'm all ears! Haha... ha... And thanks, I'm glad you're enjoying it!

**Kyouno-aru**: Nice Lovi FTW! And they totally are. They're best when they're directed at YOU, of course, but that's beside the point, amiright? Heh~ And yes, Tonio shall be a part of these beautiful moments eventually, I promise~

**Natalie Edelstein**: No worried, that's perfectly fine~ To be honest I hadn't really expected any reviews. Just shows you how much faith I have in my writing, neh? Heh. Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it! And yea, I hate that too. I suppose that stems from real-life me, I'm a rather angry individual myself but I'm so sweet around my loved ones~ I keep it out of my writing, of course, but it makes writing Lovi so fun! And yea, sadly, parents CAN do that. It's horrible and makes me want to strangle them... I feel sorry for Feli, too; he's the one being favoured but he hates it. Those be his bros! I'll explain the hour thing later, don't worry~ I figured I'd make grandpa loving since his parents are douchebags. I wish I could be this speedy all the time! But once I'm back in school I'll sadly have less freetime...

This chapter Antonio gets to meet Lovino and Feliciano (and Marcello)'s horses! Sadly it feels very filler-ish, nothing interesting really happens until they get to school...

SS Out~

* * *

When the family and Antonio sat down to breakfast, the parents praised their son on a job well done. Yes, son; singular. Antonio couldn't stop the frown on his face as they fawned over Feliciano about how amazing he did on the breakfast. The Spaniard felt like he should say something, because it was obvious the awkward-feeling Italian and his two brothers wouldn't. He started to open his mouth when he felt a hand on his arm.

Antonio glanced to the side where he knew Lovino was, but he couldn't imagine the eldest son touching him willingly. Lovino was facing forward, but he was looking from the corner of his eye at Antonio. The Spaniard wasn't completely stupid. Apparently his thoughts were on his face, and the shorter Italian was telling him to shut up.

Instead, Antonio asked, "Lovino, why aren't you eating anything?"

"I ate earlier," he stated, picking up his cup of... wine? Antonio was sure Lovino wasn't old enough to drink wine... and everyone else had a simple coffee. Why was Lovino drinking wine? "Nonno just wants me to sit at breakfast with the family. Feh..."

"Well I think it's... um... nice, to, um... spend time with your family," Antonio said awkwardly. Lovino looked at him with a 'you're a terrible liar and you'll make a terrible king' look. "Well... it is..."

"Would be without them," Lovino mumbled, turning away to look at Feliciano. "Feli," he interrupted his parents praises, "After you finish eating, want to help me with the horses?"

Feli perked up immediately. "Si! Oh, but... are you feeling up to it?" he asked, cheerfulness level falling slightly. Lovino scowled at his brother.

"Would I have fucking asked if I wasn't?" he demanded. Feli giggled, perking back to normal immediately.

"Okay~! And we can introduce Antonio to our horses! Can we go for a ride? Toni, Toni, do you know how to ride a horse?! It's so fun!"

Feliciano rambled on happily about horses while Lovino simply rolled his eyes. He then looked at Antonio. "Well, do you, bastard? Or will we have to teach you? You look stupid enough not to know..."

"Oh, no, I know how to ride a horse," Antonio answered, laughing slightly.

"Good." Lovino stood up and headed towards the door. "I'll be waiting for your stupid asses."

"Loviiii," Romero whined, but Lovino was already gone.

Antonio was sure he'd missed something, but he wasn't quite sure what.

* * *

After they finished eating- five minutes after Lovino left- Feliciano led Antonio out the kitchen door and down a long path to a barn. It was a large barn, shining a stark red and not at all falling apart.

"Ve~ Lovi is inside, probably waiting for us in the loft~" Feliciano hummed. "That's where he usually waits~"

"So you guys do this often?" Antonio asked. Feliciano thought for a few moments on that.

"I wouldn't say often," Feliciano answered slowly, pulling the barn door open. "Only when Fratello is... feeling up to it." Antonio frowned. He was missing something, and he wanted to know what. But he didn't get a chance to ask. Lovino landed on his feet right in front of them, startling Feliciano. "Ve~! Fratello, you shouldn't do that, what if you break your legs?!"

"Shut up, Feli, I've been doing that for years," Lovino sighed, rolling his eyes. "I always do that, dammit..." he walked over to the side.

"So where are the horses?" Antonio asked, ignoring Feliciano's concern... though even he had to agree that it was a bit dangerous. He was glancing around. There were six stables in the barn, all of which were empty.

"Grazing in the field, bastard," Lovino answered flatly. "And we only have four horses, those two extra stalls are used for storage."

"Oh... well, what do you have to do if they're grazing already?"

"Well~" Feliciano started, picking up a horse brush, "We need to brush their coat and manes, make sure they have enough water and hay, clean their stalls, exercise them to make sure they don't start getting overly restless and going wild, clean their hooves so they don't get packed and infected, make sure there's nothing in the field that could damage their hooves-"

"They sound like a lot of work," Antonio interrupted, unsure of how long this would go.

"Brushing and exercising them is last," Lovino added, grabbing the brush out of Feli's hand and handing him something to clean the stalls with. "Because if we exercise them but there's a nail or something in the field they could get hurt and that's just fucking counterproductive, dammit."

"I never expected a family of aristocrats to take care of horses," Antonio commented, watching the brothers start working. There was a third broom, and he thought about trying to help.

"Don't even fucking think about it, you're neither dressed for nor do you know how to fucking clean a horse's stall," Lovino snapped suddenly. Antonio was starting to think that boy was a mind reader... "To answer your stupid question, Spanish bastard, some of us don't plan on living in big houses with a million fucking servants at our beck and call. I like horses, I'll take up the fucking responsibility to have one."

"Huh... that's a... that's an interesting way to view it," Antonio commented, actually a bit surprised and unsure of how to respond.

"Just shut up, you're distracting us."

**-Later-**

Antonio watched as the brothers finished brushing the manes of the final horse, all of which had come at their call. They really were beautiful beings, Antonio had to admit.

"Now to introduce you~!" Feliciano exclaimed happily, skipping over to a medium-sized mare. She was a white mare with tan splotches and a light blonde mane. Her hooves looked golden, but that could simply be because of how Feliciano polished them. "This is my horse~ Her name's Adrina! Isn't she so pretty~?!"

Antonio nodded. He looked at Lovino, who was standing next to another horse, about the same size as Adrina. This one was also a mare and looked a lot like Adrina, but where Adrina was white, this one was black, and where Adrina was tan, this one was dark-chocolate brown. Her mane looked like it was dark brown mixed with blonde. Her hooves also looked gold.

"This is my horse," Lovino muttered, stroking the mare. He blushed slightly and glanced down. "... Speranza." Antonio didn't understand what the blush was for but he didn't question it.

"Nonno bought Speranza for Lovino five years ago," Feliciano said with a smile. "Lovi's always liked horses, so Nonno figured the best gift he could give was a horse~ Of course he got me and Marcello a horse too~ All three from the same mother!"

Feliciano skipped over to a third horse, who was slightly smaller than the others. This one was male; he was pure brown except for a strip on his face, which was white. The coat above his hooves were white, all the way up to his knees, like socks! Anotonio thought it was cute. His hooves were different from Adrina and Speranza's; the front left and back right were gold, but the front right was black and the back left was white. Antonio hadn't even known hooves could do that...

"This is Marcello's horse, but Marcello is afraid of getting trampled so he doesn't really ride much," Feliciano giggled. "He named him Rinaldo. I like calling him Rinny~"

"Of course you do," Lovino muttered, rolling his eyes and walking to the fourth. The fourth was taller than the three sibling horses. "Papa bought this horse for Feliciano two years ago, to congratulate him going to high school. But Feliciano never rides him. Feli's scared of falling off."

"He's so big!" Feli whined. "I can't even get on his back without help!"

"I'm usually the one who exercises him," Lovino grumbled.

Antonio observed the large horse. He looked friendly enough; his eyes seemed to sparkle with mirth. He was a pure white horse, no interruptions or little marks, with a beautiful black mane and tail, and lovely, shiny brown hooves. Antonio had no idea what kind of horse any of them were, and he had a feeling the Italians didn't, either, but he thought they were all lovely... especially Feliciano's second horse.

_Wait, why does Feliciano have a second horse but Lovino doesn't?_

"His name is Gino. Papa picked the name out... I don't like that name, though, and he doesn't respond to it," Feli pouted, crossing his arms.

Antonio gently stroked the large horse's coat. "Well, why not give him a different name? He's yours, not your father's," Antonio said, looking at Feliciano. Feli seemed to brighten at the idea.

"Oh yea! But I don't know any good names! Why don't you pick a name for him?" Feli suggested merrily, smiling widely. "While you're here you'll probably be using him a lot more than I will~!"

"I don't know any Italian..."

"Ve~ That's okay~! Name him something Spanish!"

The prince frowned and looked at the horse. He'd never named a horse before. The horse looked at him, as though knowing whose decision his real, acceptable name was. "Um... how about... Romano?" he suggested. "It means "from Rome"," he added, laughing.

"Bastard... Romano is my middle name," Lovino grumbled, crossing his arms.

"Oh?" Antonio smiled happily. "Lovi Roma~" He turned to the horse. "What do you think about the name Romano~?" he asked. The horse tossed his head in a way that looked like a nod. "So~ Romano~"

Lovino watched as the horse _actually responded_. It felt so weird to hear someone calling a horse by his own middle name... and Feliciano was giggling maniacally beside him.

"He likes it!" Feliciano cheered excitedly, skipping over. "Ve~ We should get Marcello out here and the four of us can go for a ride through the countryside like we used to, Lovi!"

The elder Italian frowned and looked about to say no, but then Feliciano was using super-effective puppy-dog eyes. Antonio watched as the older gave in to the younger. "Fine! But you're going to get Marcello, I'll saddle the horses," he grumbled. Feliciano cheered and ran back to the house.

Antonio followed Lovino to one of the extra stables. "Hey, bastard, grab those blankets," Lovino commanded, grabbing a saddle off of where four saddles hung on a wall. The Spaniard did as he was told.

"I find it interesting," Antonio started now that they were alone, "that you treat me like anyone else despite knowing who I actually am."

Lovino rolled his eyes. "What, am I supposed to give you special treatment because of that? You play the cards you were dealt, bastardo; you have no control over who you are. You're just another person as far as I'm concerned." He set the saddle down and grabbed the blanket, throwing it over the correct horse.

Antonio watched as the Italian saddled Romano. "That's an interesting way to view it," he repeated what he had said just earlier, only this time he knew he meant it. Lovino glanced at him.

"Yea well, I'm an interesting person," he said sarcastically, going to grab another saddle. Antonio watched him.

_Yes indeed you are... What are all of you not telling me?_

* * *

After about ten minutes, the three Italian brothers and Antonio found themselves riding through the countryside. When Feliciano had returned, he had not only their brother but a hat which now sat on Lovino's head... though Lovino had insisted he didn't actually need it. It once again prompted Antonio to wonder what was going on that he didn't know about, but he chose to enjoy his time on his new horse-friend's back.

For someone afraid of being trampled, Marcello sure did a lot of things that Antonio was sure could cause you to _get_ trampled... like make the horse run, let go of the reins, lean over, _stand in the saddle oh god what the hell..._

"Hey, Feli!" Marcello called, commanding his horse into a trot. "I'll race you!"

"Veee~ You're on, Marcy!" Feliciano accepted the challenge, and the two younger Italians took off. Lovino just chuckled and shook his head.

It took Antonio a moment or two to realize _Lovino had chuckled_. As in, laughing chuckle! Out of innocent amusement! He spun to look at Lovino so fast he nearly fell out of his saddle, which Romano didn't appreciate at all if his whinny was anything to go by.

Lovino watched Antonio try to regain balance. "What the fuck was that about, bastard?"

"You chuckled," he answered, finally straightening back up. "I was surprised, I haven't heard you actually laugh or anything like that... not like that, anyway."

"Don't get used to it," Lovino rolled his eyes, turning his face forward again. Speranza pranced a little then settled down again so as not to cause Lovino to lose balance.

"Hey, what does your horses' names mean, anyway?" Antonio finally asked. Lovino scowled.

"I can't believe you didn't bother learning any Italian," he grumbled. "You're lucky you chose my school. The principal is American and the majority of the student body is from other countries, so most everything is in English."

"Well?" Antonio refused to let Lovino change the subject.

"Ugh, nosy Spaniard. Adrina is 'happiness', Rinaldo is 'wise power', and Speranza is, ah 'hope'," he answered. Antonio blinked at Lovino.

"Hope? Why did you name your horse hope?" he asked curiously.

"Mind your own fucking business, princey bastard," Lovino growled. "I have my reasons." He looked up at the sky. "Come on, let's catch up to my idiot brothers." With that, Speranza took off at a gallop. Antonio simply watched in surprise. The movement had been so subtle he hadn't even realized Lovino gave the command.

And then Antonio realized he himself didn't know _how_ to give the gallop command.

_These Italians get more and more interesting,_ he couldn't help but think. _Aristocrats who not only ride horses for fun, but clean them themselves... very interesting._ He flicked the reins, thinking maybe that would spur Romano into a gallop.

Nope. Romano took off at a full run. All Antonio could do was hold on for dear life.

**-To Be Continued-**

After this chapter, I'll probably skip ahead to when school begins. This is pretty much how their days would pass, to be honest. Ride the horses, go to the beach, have lunch, hate the parents, etc...


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N**: Who's got the moves? Well, definitely not me!

**Daffodil Moon**: Thank you, I'm glad you like it! And isn't it? The sad part is there ARE parents out there like that. Thankfully Feli and Romero both love Lovi and Marcy very much~

**WeirdGuest**: Yep, school is about to begin, so here comes more people! And it's because Lovi's parents are assholes. I'll get the shovel if you get the knife... wink wink... poor poor Lovi...

I don't know anything about the Education System in Italy! I do know about in Germany, and it's probably similar, but I'm not really sure and research helps me none. That's why for the purposes of this story, it's an Amrican-style private school with American-style sports and classes.

This chapter is sorta long-ish and has some explaining stuff...

SS Out~

* * *

The rest of the week passed in much the same way; every day Antonio would be woken by that strange humming alarm, Lovino would tell him to go back to sleep, he'd wake up a few hours later and go downstairs to find the three brothers making breakfast together. They'd all sit down, parents would shower Feliciano with praise, Lovino would interrupt and invite Feliciano to help him with the horses, and Antonio and Marcello would tag along and help in any way they could. Then they'd go riding until around lunch time.

After lunch, the boys would usually do something like watch TV or draw and paint. Antonio quickly learned that the Vargas family was very artistically inclined, even though only Feliciano got noticed for his talent. Around one fifteen, Lovino would disappear for a little while, though he was always back before one-thirty. They'd play boardgames and after some time, they might go back outside. Antonio had quickly discovered Lovino's tomato garden and convinced Lovino to let him help with it. They both loved tomatoes, apparently. Sometimes Romero would take them to the city.

No matter what, though, they were always home at one-fifteen and eight o'clock. Always.

And that loud clock only chimed at eight o'clock.

Saturday came, and as usual the clock woke Antonio and Lovino at six o'clock. Antonio fell back asleep, as always, but when he went downstairs later, Lovino wasn't in the kitchen helping Feliciano and Marcello cooked.

At breakfast, the brothers seemed subdued while the parents were perfectly normal. Lovino and Romero weren't home.

Antonio had decided by then he really didn't like Lovino's parents. They insisted on going out for lunch and going shopping, though neither of the brothers showed any interest.

Finally, Antonio broke. "Where's Lovino and Romero?" he asked.

"Father had to take Lovino for his monthly checkup," Luciano responded without any hesitance or sadness.

"Monthly checkup?" Antonio pushed.

"Leave it," Marcello interrupted his father, looking at Antonio. "You'll find out most likely Monday. Lovino can explain it better than our father or mother ever could." Then Marcello stood up and walked out of the room without excusing himself.

Needless to say, they didn't go out that day.

Lovino and Romero returned home around five o'clock that evening.

"Ve~ Fratello, what happened?" Feliciano questioned. Lovino glanced at Antonio, frowned, and began explaining.

In Italian.

Antonio knew whatever the Italians were hiding, Lovino obviously felt it was none of his business.

Sunday was church day, nothing really interesting there.

Then Monday came. The first day of school.

This time, when the humming began, Antonio forced himself out of bed as well. He knew he could probably afford to sleep until six-thirty or seven, but he didn't trust himself to get up in time.

He watched as Lovino left the room, carrying a change of clothes. Antonio assumed that meant he was going to get a shower.

After Lovino had closed the bathroom dorr down the hall, someone slipped into the dark room. Antonio immediately recognized it as Feliciano.

"Oh good, you're awake~" Feliciano giggled happily. "I wasn't sure if you'd wake up when mio fratello did~ Come on, there's another bathroom on the third floor!"

Antonio realized he had never been to the third floor. He wondered slightly what was up there. The Spanish prince grabbed a change of clothes and followed the younger excitable Italian up the stairs.

"So, what's on this floor? I haven't been here yet," Antonio admitted, glancing at the doors. There were three doors in the long hall. One on each side and one at the end.

"Oh~ The door on the left is the bathroom! On the right is a study, we're not allowed in there. It's Nonno's I-want-to-be-alone place! At the end is a small family library. It also has a piano and comfortable couches and chairs! Back when we were learning piano, our classmate's father would come teach us in that room~ Lovi was really good." Feliciano giggled. "Oh!" He turned in the other direction, drawing Antonio's eyes to two more doors on either side. "On the left here is a family room! We don't use it except when we have a family reunion. The door on the right is just used for storage. If we had somewhere to put all that stuff, I bet we could make it into another bedroom... Well, go get your shower~ I'll be downstairs making breakfast with Marcello!" Then he was gone.

Antonio sighed and opened the door on the left. It was indeed a bathroom. A rather large bathroom, larger than either of the other two.

The tiles on the wall were a fancy pale blue, reflecting on the shiny white linoleum floor. The tiles were set in diamond shapes and had darker, royal blue swirling through their centers. There was a sink to the right of the door, set in a shiny granite counter-top with light-coloured wooden cabinets below.

Not too far away was a toilet. Nothing special about a toilet though, so his eyes trailed over to the bathtub.

Antonio had a feeling this was the show-off bathroom. The bath tub was huge and round, large enough to fit three or four people to be honest. It was just barely light-cream instead of white, and it had a stainless steal faucet. There was a curtain surrounding the bath, though it was pulled to the far right side of the rail. There was no shower-head, it was purely for baths.

To the left of the tub, set center between the tub and door, was a niche in the wall. It was large, and it also had a curtain pulled aside. It had shelves for things like soap and shampoo, and just enough space to fit someone comfortably.

He set his clothes on the granite tabletop, a little amazed. "Wow. Why does no one use this bathroom?" he asked himself.

Then he realized someone probably did. There were soap boxes stocked up, washcloths, all sorts of things that hinted at someone using it.

"Well, I standing here won't do anything," he mumbled to himself, locking the door and starting to strip. "Let's get done quickly for breakfast~"

At breakfast that morning, only the brothers and Antonio were eating. It was the first time Antonio got to eat with Lovino, who drank coffee instead of wine this time.

The air was a lot lighter than usual, with all the brothers talking and smiling- bar Lovino, who smirked instead- and laughing. Everyone was happier this morning than usual, and Antonio was happy to feel like he was a part of it.

Lovino glanced at a clock on the wall and stood up. "Be right back," he said, walking towards the stairwell.

"Ve, okay~" Feliciano called, downing the last of his coffee. The younger Italian noticed Antonio watching Lovino, frowning slightly with confusion and curiosity. "Fratello has something to do, Toni," Feli explained merrily. "He'll be back in about ten minutes. Then we'll get our bookbags and walk to school!"

"Where is the school?" Antonio asked curiously. "And how long does it take to walk there? Romero said school doesn't start until seven-fifty..."

"Ve~ It doesn't take long, only about fifteen minutes. It's close to the suburbs. "We want to get there earlier today so we can get our schedules, compare them with friends, and get to class on time!"

Antonio nodded slightly in understanding.

"Marcello has a shorter way to walk, only about eight minutes," Feliciano added. "He's in his last year of junior high~"

"What grade are you and your brother in, Feli?" Antonio questioned.

"Oh, I'm going to be a junior and Lovino is going to be a senior!" he answered cheerfully.

"So you're not twins?"

"Whaaaat? Of course not!" Feli laughed at the notion. "He's an entire year older than me!" Antonio nodded in understanding and then smiled.

"You and Marcello have quite an age gap," he observed, glancing at the junior-high boy. Marcello just scoffed.

"Yea, mama and papa weren't planning on having more children, and then mama got pregnant and here's Marcello~!"

"Now that you're done talking about Marcello's birth, how about we get our asses out the door. I'd like to see what classes we have, you know," Lovino interrupted, coming into the room carrying four bags, each with two binders and some folders on the inside. He dropped them on the floor, holding his own red and black bag. Antonio hopped up and grabbed his own red and green bag.

"Okay!" he cheered, watching Feliciano snag his bright yellow bag while Marcello picked up his chosen black and white bag. "Let's go!"

* * *

Lovino took Feliciano's schedule to see if they had any extracurriculars together. Antonio already knew he had the same exact classes as Lovino so didn't bother.

"We have music, performing, and visual arts together," Lovino observed to which Feliciano happily cheered. "And lunch."

The Spaniard looked at his own schedule, trying to figure out exactly how many extracurriculars Lovino was signed up for. It was only those three, unless cooking counted. Apparently Lovino already had most everything else needed to graduate out of the way.

Some parts of the schedule scared Antonio. He wasn't sure how well he'd fair unless he had help...

The schedule looked like this;

_First- Advanced Calculus with Mrs. Mancini, room 211_

_Second- Advanced Senior Literature with Mr. Smith, room 115_

_Third- Advanced Senior History with Mr. Anderson, room 312_

_Fourth- Cooking with Mrs. Zambini, room 3A_

_Lunch A_

_Study B- Room 150_

_Fifth- Music with Mr. Edelstein, room 2A_

_Sixth- Performing Arts with Mrs. Edelstein, room 4A_

_Seventh- Visual Arts with Mr. Vargas, room 109_

"Ve~ Fratello, why are you taking so many advanced classes? If you miss any class, you'll fall so very far behind!" Feliciano said, looking worriedly at his brother's schedule.

"It's called studying, Fratello, I can fucking read the fucking textbook," Lovino growled.

"Why are all your academics in the morning and extracurriculars in the evening?" Antonio asked, confused. "Don't you have more core classes you need?"

"No, I don't," Lovino answered simply. "I took them already. And I want to get the fucking academics out of the way in the morning so I can relax before going home."

"Plus he won't have to leave during an academic class," Feliciano added, but this meant nothing to Antonio.

"Don't you have some idiots to go compare schedules with?"

"Veeeee, but Loviiii~ Luddy isn't here yet and Kiku is skipping ahead to your grade so I won't really have any classes with him~ And-"

"Just go compare with Lili or Bella, I have to show this bastard the way to our first period, dammit!" Lovino growled.

"Ve~ You're very irritable today," Feliciano giggled before tackle-hugging his brother. "But okay, I'm going to see if I can find Bella~!" With that, the cheery young Italian ran off.

"It's about fucking time," Lovino sighed. "Come on, follow me..."

Antonio followed the Italian boy without any hesitation. However, he was curious... "Lovino, why _are_ you taking so many advanced classes?"

"I didn't choose them, the school put me in there," Lovino responded flatly. "In the normal classes my grades are nearly perfect at first but they start slipping when I get bored because it takes the idiots around me so fucking long to understand the basic concepts of every little fucking thing..."

"I hope I can keep up, then," the Spaniard said sheepishly. "I've never been in a public school before."

"This isn't a public school, if it was we'd be following normal Italian school systems, bastard. This is a private high school, that's why we're taught by American standards, no wonder everyone's an idiot..." Lovino hesitated for a moment or two. "And don't worry about the fucking advanced classes, I'll help you with homework and studying."

"Really?! Gracias!" Antonio was so happy and without hesitation he hugged Lovino. Lovino immediately started shouting in Italian and struggling, and after a few seconds, Antonio let him go. He was highly amused by the Italian's reaction.

Lovino turned around and punched his arm. "If you ever do that again, you'll wake up dead!"

"If I'm dead I won't wake up, silly Lovino," Antonio pointed out with a laugh, following the huffy Italian again. He was totally planning on doing it again.

Room 211 was, unsurprisingly, the eleventh room on the second floor. When they walked in, there were only two other people sitting there. Two boys, one with blonde hair and bushy eyebrows and the other with short black hair and dull brown eyes, sat at the front together, talking. Lovino went over to them and sat down behind them. Antonio followed.

The duo turned around to look at them. "Good morning, Lovino," the blonde greeted in a clearly-English accent... or was it British? Antonio wasn't sure.

"Good morning, Romano," the Asian greeted as well. Antonio raised an eyebrow and glanced at Lovino, who didn't react negatively to being called by his middle name at all.

"Buongiorno, Arthur, Kiku," Lovino muttered. "This idiot beside me is Antonio. He's staying at my house until school's over."

Arthur and Antonio stared at each other for a few moments. "Hey... do I... know you?" the Englishman asked slowly, furrowing his bushy brows together.

"I was about to ask the same thing," Antonio responded. "You look a lot like..."

"You look a lot like..." The two seemed to have a silent conversation, which Lovino and Kiku watched in confusion. Arthur chuckled. "I should have guessed."

"As should I. This is where you's been for the past six years," Antonio laughed, then turned his attention back to Lovino, who just looked confused. "So why did, ah, Kiku call you Romano?"

"He can't pronounce my first name correctly so I gave him permission to use my middle name, you bastard," Lovino responded, glaring at the Spaniard. "What are you not telling us?"

"I've been asking myself the same thing," Antonio responded simply with a stupid smile on his face. Arthur rolled his eyes.

"Idiot."

"Hey Artie!"

"Oh fucking bo-" Arthur was tackled right out of his chair and, along with another blonde, landed partially on a startled Kiku. "Alfred! Get the hell off of me!"

"What the fuck is that American idiot doing in _advanced_ calculus?!"

**-To Be Continued-**

Okay, I'm really sorry but I had to do it, I love best-friends Arthur and Lovino (and Matthew too). I'm going to try and keep USUK out of this story, the only romance I want in here is Spamano and a bit of Gerita. So only friendly/brotherly USUK in this one, unless you want to read it otherwise. And yes, in case you haven't realized it, Alfred's dad is the principal.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: **Yay I can write again! I'll try and get all my stories updated sometime between today and Friday, but I can't promise anything. Tomorrow starts second semester at school, and so marks the second part of my graduation project... which is on ancient Roman and Greek influences on the modern world...

**Kyouno-aru**: ~Of course you can't get away without some Iggy-Spain interaction. And yay for similar tastes in friendships! Heehe~

**Natalie Edelstein**: I'm glad you think so highly of my story! And like I've said before, I really wish my updates could be this quick all the time, but when I first started these, I was on vacation. I'm glad you like the fact I had horse riding, horses are amazing. Heehee~ I think they're so hilarious as best friends because of how their personalities clash so much. That's why I like them as friends but not a couple. Heehee~ I kind of want to avoid USUK for the fact that not all Spamano supporters support USUK, and I don't know how some of my readers would appreciate it, even as a side pairing.

**Note**: For the life of me I couldn't find any popular fan names for New Zealand, who is only mentioned in this chapter once and will probably never show up again, so I went with "Liam".

This chapter may be a bit boring. It's describing classes... really, after this I'll probably only ever pay attention to the arts classes and lunch. I'll probably never go into detail with calculus, I suck at math... so yea.

Well, onto Chapter 6.

SS Out~

* * *

Antonio quickly discovered he was absolute shit at calculus. Thankfully, since he was Spanish, he could blame the nonexistent "language barrier" for not understanding anything, and Lovino promised the teacher he'd help the Spaniard at home.

Instead of paying attention to the teacher, Antonio observed the other people in the room. There were probably only sixteen or seventeen people in the classroom, if he had to guess, including themselves. Of course in front of him was Kiku and in front of Lovino was Arthur; on Lovino's other side behind "Alfred" sat another boy who looked... kind of like Alfred, but had longer, lighter hair and almost-violet eyes. Lovino had greeted him as "Matthew" so Antonio assumed he was "Matthew".

The only other people Antonio really noticed was a really tall boy with a scary aura in the back corner, sitting next to a feminine-looking Asian man, and a... sleeping brown-haired boy, in the opposite corner as the scary boy. How he would pass the class, Antonio had no idea.

Just then the bell rang, signalling the end of class. Antonio stood up as Lovino did and started towards the exit, glancing back at the sleeper. For a moment he pondered going to wake him up, but then he saw Kiku walk over. He turned to Lovino.

"Well, I have no clue how I'm going to pass that class," he stated. Lovino simply shrugged. "What class was next?"

"Idiota, didn't you look at the schedule at all?" Before Antonio could reply, he went on to say, "We have literature next."

"Oh... think I can use the language excuse again?" he asked sheepishly.

"Not if you keep speaking in English," he stated simply. "Someone's bound to tell you speak English fluently."

"But Lovi~ If I speak Spanish, I won't be able to talk to you," he pointed out, receiving an eye-roll from Lovino.

"Idiot! I'm Italian, I know Spanish!" Lovino snapped, and Antonio noticed he'd said it in Spanish. Back in English, he continued with, "I just don't like speaking Spanish, it's like Italian but all wrong."

"Wow, Lovi, you're trilingual!" the Spanish prince cheered.

"If you're going to try pretending you're no damn good at English, you shouldn't spout words like "trilingual"," Lovino informed him with a roll of his eyes. "I think you should drop the English-Spanish barrier thing already, bastard, it'll make everything harder for everyone. You're not here to be a student, you shouldn't give a fuck about your grades."

Antonio thought about what Lovino just said. "Ah, I guess you're right," he said with a shrug. "It does complicate things, and it's not like I'm here to graduate." Lovino had suddenly stopped and Antonio nearly kept walking on without him. He backtracked the few steps. "Eh? Why'd we stop?"

"This is our class, Spanish fucker," Lovino answered flatly, walking in. Antonio followed quickly.

"Oh Lovino, such language. I hope you're not planning to use those in your essays this year," an annoying high-pitched voice said from inside. Antonio had to keep himself from laughing. Mr. Smith was every definition of the word "nerd". He had oily, slicked-back black hair, large thick glasses, suspenders, squeaky shiny shoes, everything.

"Don't let it fool you," Lovino grumbled to Antonio as the sat around a middle row, behind a girl with lovely long brown hair. "He's an author _and_ an actor, he enjoys coming to school in different personas. Tomorrow he might come as a fucking rockstar or some shit like that."

"Oh... Um... Lovi, this school is weird."

"Oh, you realize that _now_?"

Literature was a beast for Antonio because immediately they got into books with large words he honestly didn't understand. When he asked the teacher, the teacher explained in words he didn't understand. "Um, can you explain in shorter, smaller, simpler every-day words?" Antonio requested, looking a little dismayed. He'd used the language barrier in calculus, and now there really was one!

The teacher frowned. "I don't know how. Maybe Lovino can explain it to you."

Antonio immediately turned to Lovino and asked, "Lovi, what's this word?" Lovino rolled his eyes and continued reading the book. "Please? _Por favor_? With tomatoes and-"

"Fine, bastardo, I'll tell you what it means! I'll even tell you in Spanish, will you shut the fuck up with your begging already?!"

"Lovino!"

"Thank you, Lovi!"

* * *

Nothing distinctly interesting happened in history. Antonio already knew most history, considering part of his personal studies back home delved into history so he could "learn what to not do" as king. Of course he couldn't tell the teacher that...

Mr. Anderson was a strict, stuck-up teacher who would slam a ruler on your desk next to your head if you put it down for even a second. Antonio didn't like him, but made a point to look like he was paying attention. Glancing over at Lovino beside him, he noticed the boy was writing something... but it definitely wasn't the notes on the board.

Then cooking came along. Antonio was excited for this class, not because he had any cooking experience- he was a prince, he'd never touched a stove in his life- but because he could finally see Lovino cook without having to hide behind a door and wall.

The kitchen stations had room for only two people, and Lovino immediately went for the station closest to the door. Antonio followed, glancing around at the other people in the room. He spotted Arthur and Alfred near the back, fighting over a spatula. Alfred looked truly freaked out at the thought of Arthur doing the cooking... A few stations away was an albino guy standing with... Matthew? Yea, Matthew... though the albino seemed perfectly content to let Matthew do the cooking; said albino was leaning against the station counter.

Another long-haired boy whose hair was a lot like Matthew's, though more golden, was shamelessly flirting with a cute blonde girl. Poor girl was flushing a deep scarlet and fidgeting in embarrassment. Antonio watched as another boy, who looked a lot like the adorable little girl, came over and grabbed her arm, dragging her away from the guy and to an empty station.

A haughty-looking dark-haired guy with a strange little hair... thing... stood, straight as a board, at a station behind the blonde duo's station, watching them. Beside him was a brown-haired girl- the same one from literature, he briefly noted- who was pouting and watching the haughty boy. Antonio tried to hide his smile at that obvious triangle; the poor girl was pining for the haughty boy, who honestly seemed more interested in the blonde boy... who was either the older brother of the blonde girl, or interested in her.

"Lovi, you'll have to tell me who some of these people are," Antonio said, looking at Lovino. Lovino glanced around.

"Everyone in here I know anything about has the same lunch as us, I'll tell you then. Che, nosy bastard..."

The teacher, an excited grey-haired woman, skipped into the room. "Today I want to measure your abilities, so every pair, cook something!"

Lovino looked at Antonio. "Alright, Spanish fucker, do you even know how to use a stove?" he demanded. Antonio sheepishly shook his head. "Should have guessed. Looks like I'll have to teach you, dammit... why can't you do anything, bastard," he complained, pulling some pots from the cabinet below.

And so Antonio watched as Lovino made pasta with delicious tomato sauce. He tried his best to look busy when Mrs. Zambini looked over, but he had a feeling the woman already knew he didn't know what the hell he was supposed to be doing.

In the end, they heard an explosion from Arthur's station and the irate Brit yelling at Alfred, who started arguing that it was _Arthur's_ fault the stove exploded, while everyone else watched.

"Fair warning if you get partnered with Arthur," Lovino started, "You'll either get an F or a C for effort. If nothing's too badly damaged."

"I guess Arthur can't cook?"

"Neither him nor Alfred," Lovino grumbled, turning back to putting finishing touches on his pasta. "Oh by the way, we're allowed to take food we make in here and eat it for lunch since we have lunch next period."

Antonio suddenly noticed Lovino's past few sentences hadn't included any curse words; no bastards, fuckers, nothing. He didn't say anything, though; Lovino looked kinda... peaceful.

"Yay~ can we make churros next time?" Lovino gave him a strange look. "You... do know what churros are, si?"

"Of course I do, idiot. I just didn't expect someone like you to."

"Someone like me? Oh, right... I like churros. I had a friend when I was younger, his mother always made them and they were delicious!" Antonio stated, smiling happily. Lovino rolled his eyes.

"I'm sure they were. But fine, Antonio, we can make churros next time." Antonio stared at Lovino in shock as Mrs. Zambini came to make sure their pasta was acceptable. After she had walked away, and Antonio was still staring at Lovino, the Italian snapped, "What?!"

"You called me Antonio," the Spaniard answered simply. Lovino blinked in confusion.

"And you seem so surprised because...?"

"So far you've only addressed me as "bastard", "fucker", and "idiot"," Antonio explained.

"I have? No, no, I've used your name before."

"Outside of introductions, you haven't."

"Shut up or I won't give you any pasta!"

* * *

Antonio had indeed shut up, so he happily got some of Lovino's delicious pasta for lunch. "Well this explains why you told me last night not to pack a lunch," he commented, glancing around the cafeteria. The cafeteria was large, and he saw several people around that he recognized. "Why do you sit alone? Doesn't Arthur ever sit with you?" Antonio asked suddenly.

The Italian rolled his eyes. "If you have to know, nosy bastard, I chose to sit on my own. Arthur respects that." Antonio frowned and looked over to where Arthur was sitting; he was sitting between Alfred and the flirt from cooking, in front of the albino, the blonde duo, some big blonde stud and Kiku and... Feliciano?

"Why doesn't Feliciano sit with you?" Antonio asked with a frown. The brothers seemed so close...

"That guy he's sitting beside is his best friend, _Ludwig_," Lovino spat the name as though it was poison. "I hate him, he dislikes me, and I don't want to hear Feliciano whining so I told him to fuck off and go sit with his stupid potato-eating boyfriend."

"That isn't very nice, Lovi," Antonio commented, looking back at Lovino. "Anyway, you said you'd tell me a bit about some people here. Will you?" Lovino rolled his eyes.

"Not like I have a fucking choice," he grumbled. "You already know Arthur and Kiku. The freak beside Arthur, stuffing hamburgers in his mouth? That's Alfred, Arthur's self-proclaimed best friend. Never leaves Arthur alone. The French bastard on Arthur's other side is Francis fucking Bonnefoy, he'll flirt with anything that walks, and then some things that don't. He's been pining after Arthur for years, though I think his affection recently turned to some sophomore named Joan...

"That's Vash and Lili with them, they sit there because Vash claims he can see every part of the cafeteria and protect his sister better that way. I already explained the blonde German freak; the albino is his older brother, Gilbert. He's a freak too. He claims to be Prussian, but his language is still the fucking same.

"Over at the table over there," he started, pointing towards a corner of the room, "is Ivan's table. Ivan is the fucking creepy guy from first period. Beside him is probably one of the only people in the school who isn't absolutely terrified of him, Yao. All the other Asians are his adopted brothers... I only know Mei, Li, and Yong Soo. Matthew sits with them because he and Ivan are friends, thanks to hockey.

"At that table," he moved towards a different table, "are some weird-ass people. You have the Swedish student, Berwald, and his boyfriend Tino, little Finnish guy. Across from them is Lukas and Mathias, they seem to have something going on but Lukas denies anything. Dark-haired guy from cooking class is Roderich, his father is the music teacher and his mother is our performing arts teacher. That's his wannabe-girlfriend, Elizaveta. Poor girl, everyone knows Roderich likes Vash... well, everyone except Vash and maybe Roderich himself. Moving on, that's Eduard, Tino's best friend, with Toris and Feliks. You'll note how Feliks and Toris are sharing a seat, can't be comfortable..."

"Well the seats aren't exactly small," Antonio pointed out, noting how the tables all had eight seats. They looked like small benches that could just barely fit two skinny people... which Toris and Feliks were.

"Still can't be comfortable," Lovino shot back. He scanned the room for anyone else he knew. "Over there's Jett, he's from Austraiia, and that's Liam, his "brother", though again they're not related by blood. Sitting across from them is Emma and her brother Abel. I think they're only half siblings... I don't know, I haven't spoken to them in years."

Lovino paused in thought, scanning over everyone else. "Feh, whatever. You can meet everyone else yourself," he finally declared, resuming eating his pasta. "I'm too fucking lazy to name them all, and I have to eat." He glanced at his watch. "The bell is ringing in less than ten minutes, bastard."

Antonio glanced down at his own watch and found that Lovino was right; it was almost 12:40 already, and lunch for them officially started at 12:10... "Half an hour really doesn't seem like enough time to eat," Antonio complained to himself, continuing on eating his pasta.

"Eh, longer lunches mean longer study period. Besides, when we get to more complicated shit in cooking we'll have to do a lot of taste testing, meaning we probably won't even be hungry," Lovino pointed out, finishing off his pasta and putting the container away.

After a few minutes of silence, the bell rang. "We have study period now, let's go bastard," Lovino sighed, standing to his feet to leave. Antonio was quick to follow.

* * *

Finally, after an excruciatingly long hour in which Antonio found out there were _three_ lunch times, not two, they escaped to their next class. Now Antonio was so glad that Lovino was taking extra-curriculars in the afternoon, he didn't want to think.

He wanted to ask why the teacher had come over to them and nudged Lovino, telling him it was almost one-fifteen, but he knew Lovino wouldn't answer him. So instead he chose to stay silent about it and follow Lovino to the music room.

The far side of the room was set up like a chorus room would be, with a raised platform floor around a podium. Away from the platforms were various instruments, including a couple of pianos which were, obviously, set into the ground.

"Bastard, do you know how to play an instrument?" Lovino demanded, looking at Antonio. "If you don't, you'll have to learn. There are days where the class sings and days where we play instruments and write songs. You're fucked if you can't play an instrument."

"I, well, I learned to play piano when I was smaller... but a friend taught me how to play guitar and I much prefer that," Antonio admitted.

"Then when Edelstein asks, say guitar. I don't know what we're starting with today."

After the class had filtered in ("Lovi~!" "Get the fuck off of me, Feli!"), Mr. Edelstein cleared his throat. "Today we are going to start with something very simple," he said in a prissy voice. "We are going to start with scales und arpeggios in order to get your voices back into shape."

"Greeeaaat," Lovino groaned with the rest of the class.

"Scales and arpeggios?" Antonio simply questioned, quietly, to Lovino.

"Music patterns, bastard. Should have been the first fucking thing you learned about music."

* * *

After the very boring music lesson, where they went through the scales forward, backwards, and in thirds, different patterns, everything like that, the Italian brothers and Antonio were happy to escape.

"Music is usually fun after the first day~" Feliciano sang, skipping towards their next class, performing arts.

"Every one of these classes are just going over basics today," Lovino grumbled. "Completely boring. Can't wait to get home."

"Oh! Lovi!" Feliciano turned quickly to his brother, startling the elder Italian. "Did you remember to-"

"Yes, I fucking did. Shut the hell up."

Antonio frowned but didn't question it. Again. He was getting tired of being left out of the loop, though.

After the, admittedly boring, first day of classes, where they did work in academic classes and went over basics in the extra-curricular classes, the trio set off towards the Italian brothers' home. They picked Marcello up along the way.

When they arrived home, Romero was waiting. "How was the first day of school?" he asked with a knowing smirk.

"Shut the fuck up, it was horrible and you know it."

**-To Be Continued-**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N**: So we have a snow day today! So I'll write. Hooray! I don't have clothes for snow, so I can't go out. I live in the south, no one here has snow clothes!

**Erizabeth**: D'aww, thank you, Erizabeth, I'm glad you like it so much! I wish I could write more often but my aversion to writing with people in the same room is a quirk of mine, hehheh. Here's the update!

So yea, I hope this chapter is up to everyone's expectation, I'm up at 8 AM writing it... I usually don't get up on free days until 11 AM at the earliest.

Also, I'm not sure y'all know this but I'm a music nut. I was in band, and thought I didn't play the piano, I played the xylophone which is similar in many ways.. thought different in many ways... and I could read both treble and bass clef fluently... so of course I'm gonna emphasize music~

SS Out~

* * *

Nothing interesting really happened until possibly the third day of school in music class. The students were all playing instruments; Antonio slowly strummed a guitar, sitting by the piano that Lovino was playing boredly, staring at the music in front of him. Feliciano was beside him, at a different piano, playing the same piece in unison with Lovino. The only difference was Feliciano played the fast-paced piece with more energy and enthusiasm.

Lovino's screamed out his boredom with it.

"Mr. Vargas," Mr. Edelstein started, standing by Lovino. Lovino turned his attention to the music director, looking bored. "I know you're very talented with music, why are you playing this piece so mechanically?" he demanded of the student. The Italian just rolled his eyes.

"Simple, I don't feel it like Feli right there does. I'm not as fucking happy about every little damn thing in the world, you know," he grumbled.

"Well think of something that makes you happy! You should-"

"Fine, fine," the Italian interrupted, turning back to the music. "But I'm never that fucking happy. Never." Mr. Edelstein huffed but stood expectantly, waiting for Lovino to play the piece _right_.

After a few moments of silence- well, relative silence, only Feliciano and Antonio had stopped playing; everyone else continued on, paying no mind to the pianists- Lovino's sharp gaze softened, and Antonio saw his lips twitch into an almost-smile. He began playing the piece again from the beginning.

The Spanish prince watched in slight amazement, wondering to himself just what the younger Italian was thinking about that could bring up such emotion and energy. Was it the horses? His brothers? He made a mental note to ask later.

After the Spaniard's guide finished playing the piece, Edelstein nodded in satisfaction. "Good, good." The teacher started walking away, then paused. "Herr Vargas, I would like to speak to you privately, if you would." Lovino shrugged and stood up to follow the director.

Antonio watched Lovino and Edelstein walk away. "Hey, Feli, do you know what they're going to talk about?" he asked curiously, looking at Feliciano. The even-younger Italian giggled merrily.

"Of course! Mr. Edelstein always gives Lovi a special assignment," Feliciano told Antonio. "Lovi's good at a lot of things, but the only thing _he_ knows he's good at is music, and Mr. Edelstein recognizes his potential~ Every year he gives Lovi a special year-long assignment, but this _is_ the first time Lovi has taken music here... he spent all his other years getting most academics out of the way~" Feliciano expanded, a happy smile on his face.

"What kind of assignment is it?" Antonio questioned the auburn Italian.

"Ve~ Every year Lovi writes a full length song for the piano!" Feliciano answered, tapping a few keys. "He writes music for an hour every day, two if he's feeling _really_ good! And when he's all done at the end of the year, he'll play it for me and Nonno and Marcello~ But they're always so sad..." he trailed off, his little curl drooping like it tended to do when the Italian became sad.

"Huh... that sounds awesome~ But why are they always sad...?"

"Veeee~ Don't worry about it, Toni~" Feliciano turned back to the piano to continue playing. Antonio frowned. They were _still_ not telling him something.

He felt like it was something he should have at least noticed himself.

After a few minutes, Lovino returned holding a strange, hard-covered notebook. The cover was black and it had a white treble clef dead center, while thin gold lines of a staff swerved every which way around behind it. It was rather lovely in Antonio's opinion.

"What's that?" he asked as though he didn't already know. Well, he didn't know for _sure_ what it was, but he had a pretty good idea...

"A music notebook," Lovino answered simply, taking his seat at the piano again. He continued with, "Edelstein wants me to write a song for the piano." He held the notebook out for Antonio to look at, noticing the prince's curiosity.

Antonio thought it strange that Lovino would so willingly let him see the notebook, but he decided Lovino must have been in a good mood. He took the notebook and opened it. The first page in the book was black except for a large square in the center, which was white. Thin strips of gold separated the white from the black, and in small, fine script the words "TITLE" and "COMPOSED BY" were printed to the left of the square. Already by "COMPOSED BY" the name "Lovino Romano Vargas" was written in neat cursive.

"Fancy," he commented, turning to look at the next page. The first thing he noticed was the nicely spaced staff lines. That was basically all that was in it; there were no measure lines, no tempo marks, no time signature... It took Antonio a moment to notice that the staffs were separated into sets of two; the top one with a treble clef, the bottom with a bass. There were four sets of two on each page. "How many pages are in here?"

"Two hundred," Lovino answered simply. "Counting front and back, of course..."

"Are you going to fill every page?" Antonio asked, a curious glint in his eye as he looked at Lovino and handed the fancy music notebook back. Lovino shrugged.

"He wants at least one hundred pages filled. We'll see when it comes to that. But I won't be putting any notes in the notebook anytime soon; I have to finalize my idea on another paper first," he mumbled, slipping the music notebook into his bag.

"Do you think you can do it?" Feli asked happily. Lovino shrugged. "I know you can do it~!"

Then Feliciano ruined the moment by tackling his brother into a hug, sending them both off of the piano benches and onto the ground at Antonio's feet.

"Will you stop fucking hugging me?!"

* * *

On their way home that day, Feliciano chattered on endlessly about pasta... more types of pasta than Antonio even knew existed. The prince glanced at Lovino, who just hummed slightly to acknowledge Feliciano but obviously wasn't paying attention to him. Antonio turned back to watch where they were going. He could see the gates to Marcello's school from where they were.

Suddenly, Lovino stopped walking, catching both Feliciano and Antonio's attention. "Lovi?" Feliciano asked worriedly, backtracking to his brother. Lovino's head was slightly bowed to hide his face, but Antonio could see his fists were clenching and unclenching, his hair curl twitching and his body trembling ever so slightly. The Spaniard wasn't stupid, he knew what was wrong there.

Lovino was in pain.

"Lovi!" Feliciano was very worried. Antonio watched as the younger opened his eyes wide- well, wide compared to normal- and gently laid his hands on his older brother's shoulders. "Fratello, are you alright?" Feliciano's eyes flicked over to Antonio. "Antonio, can you go get Marcello? Lovi and I will follow shortly...!"

"Don't... shout..." Lovi bit out at his brother, hands twitching. Antonio frowned slightly but did as Feliciano requested, hurrying over to the middle school to get Marcello.

* * *

As soon as the Spaniard was out of earshot, Feliciano asked, "What is it, Lovi? Didn't you take your medicine today?"

"Of course I did, bastard," Lovino growled, lifting his hands to his head and holding it. "I don't understand," he whined to himself. "I took my medicine, this shouldn't hurt so bad..."

"Do you want me to call Nonno? It might get worse if we continue walking..." Feliciano trailed off, knowing exactly what could happen if they kept walking and it _did_ get worse.

"I took my fucking medicine, Feli, if it gets any worse, I'll probably just fucking drop dead already."

"Don't say things like that, Loviiii," Feliciano whined. "Come on, I'll call Nonno and he'll come pick us up...!"

"I said don't shout, that _does_ make it worse..."

"Are you feeling dizzy? Faint?"

"No, it's just a fucking bad headache, Feli, stop worrying so damn much." Feliciano frowned then looked back towards the middle school gates. Feliciano released Lovino's shoulders- noticing immediately how Lovino swayed slightly- and grabbed one of his arms, lightly pulling him towards the gate... careful just in case the elder collapsed. Immediately, the pain in Lovino's head spiked and everything around him doubled and spun. "... Fine, call Nonno if you're so damn worried," Lovino grumbled miserably, not willing to admit he was worried himself.

**-Meanwhile-**

Antonio glanced back at the two brothers and noted that Lovino was holding his head, his expression reflecting the pain he was feeling. The prince frowned in worry, then turned back to the middle school and scanned the yard for Marcello, spotting him with two other boys. He hurried over.

"Marcello!" he called. So far Marcello had sat alone in the yard waiting for them, of course the one day he wanted to be quick the boy was talking with friends. Marcello looked at Antonio.

"Oh, hey Antonio," he greeted. "Have you met my friends? This is Peter," he gestured to a shorter blonde boy who had eyebrows remarkably similar to Arthur's... "And this is Raivis," he continued, gesturing to another blonde-haired boy who looked even more fragile than Peter. "We were just talking about seeing a movie this evening," he went on to say.

"That's great, but we really need to go now," Antonio told the boy. "It was nice meeting you two," he added, not wanting Marcello's friends to think him rude.

"But we haven't even arranged everything yet!" Peter opposed, pouting. He had a strong British accent, making Antonio associate him even more to Arthur. "We don't have a time or place or anything set up! I'd say the Majesty, but Marcello wants to go to the Amora to flirt with girls."

"Can't you call him later? We need to go," Antonio said, his voice a bit more commanding this time.

"Why are you so insistent on going now? Can't I have some time with my friends?" Marcello complained, scowling at Antonio. Peter raised his voice in agreement and Raivis nodded slightly himself.

"Marcello, something's wrong with Lovi," Antonio finally stated flatly, and the three complaining children fell silent for several moments. Then Marcello took off. "Sorry, Peter, Raivis," Antonio apologized. "I just really want to get Lovi home, and we can't go without Marcello." Then he hurried away.

* * *

Marcello ran up to his brothers, who hadn't yet made it to the gate thanks to Lovino finally giving in to the pain and sitting down. He knelt down in front of Lovino and tipped the elder's face up so he could see his eyes. Marcello was rather young and didn't completely understand just how sick Lovino was, all he knew was that it caused pain, and that pain was clearly reflected in Lovino's golden eyes.

"Lovino, are you okay?" Marcello asked quickly, letting go of Lovino's face and waiting for a nod or a shake of the head. Neither came.

Instead, after several moments of pure silence, Lovino was able to hiss out a pained "no". But he was conscious. That was the good thing.

Lovino looked past Marcello towards Antonio, who was running up to them confused. Feliciano was on the phone, speaking in rushed Italian to their grandfather. Antonio looked so worried and confused, and for a moment Lovino almost felt bad for not telling him about his little condition.

Keyword being "almost".

"Nonno is on his way," Feliciano told Lovino, who didn't make any movements in response.

"What happened?" Marcello suddenly demanded, looking at Feliciano and Antonio. Antonio raised his hands in defense, trying to indicate that he didn't have any idea.

"It wore off," Feliciano stated simply. "Maybe it was a fluke, it's never happened before and it's only been two hours, but obviously _something_ happened-!"

"Feliciano, keep your voice down," Marcello hissed, glancing at Lovino. Antonio suddenly had the being-watched feeling and looked around, noticing some students from the school peaking around the gate and people coming to pick up their children watching in confusion. The prince frowned at them, giving them a serious look he rarely ever had to wear. The spectators quickly moved on.

It wasn't too much later- probably not even five minutes- when the SUV-van-thing that the Vargas family owned slammed to a stop and Romero jumped out, hurrying over. The man knelt down in front of his eldest grandchild and, as Marcello did, tilted his face up so the boy was looking him in the eye. "What happened?" he asked Feliciano while gathering the elder boy in his arms.

"I don't know!" Feliciano cried, worrying himself almost sick from worry. "We were just walking and suddenly he stopped and he was in pain and couldn't walk without it becoming worse and he says he took his medicine and I'm sure he did or the nurse would have already called you...!"

_Medicine?_ Antonio decided it wasn't the appropriate time to ask.

Romero went to the van- SUV?- and Feliciano opened the door for him. He sat Lovino in the back seat, center, and both of his brothers immediately joined him back there as though to help him. Antonio sat in the middle seat, still confused but not wanting to ask questions of the worrying family.

The drive back home was in complete silence, and Romero drove as calmly as he could. He didn't want to jostle Lovino around; the eldest brother looked like he was falling asleep on Feliciano's shoulder.

* * *

Antonio and Feliciano sat together in the barn, doing nothing of particular importance. They simply sat and cleaned the saddles for the horses.

Speranza was in her open stall, nervously hoofing at the ground and throwing her head back. The Spaniard couldn't help but feel like she knew something was wrong with Lovino.

When they had arrived home, the family didn't hesitate to get Lovino to his bedroom; once in there, they had closed the thick curtains and laid the sleeping- or unconscious?- boy on his bed.

Now that Antonio really thought about it, he had a feeling Lovino wasn't just sleeping. It had come so suddenly, and he'd fallen asleep so fast...

Glancing back at Feliciano, he asked quietly, "Are you guys going to tell me now what's going on? Why did Lovino...?" Feliciano glanced over at his, his eyes still open the way they were earlier that day. He slowly shook his head.

"Sorry, Toni, it's not my place to tell. Lovino will tell you when he wakes up... or when he's ready to."

**-To Be Continued-**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N**: Here I am~ I honestly didn't want to get up earlier, what with how dreadfully depressing it looks outside. It's not supposed to snow until after noon but we got the whole day off.

Ya don't know how badly I want to start writing some other ideas that jumped into my head, but I promised myself I won't write them until after I'm done with my current stories.

I'm sorry how short this chapter is, I just want to finish it before my sister comes home from work...

**STARFIRE67**: Because drama! Heh.. Thank you, I'm so glad! Yay~ Lookie, updated! And maybe again tomorrow! Maybe. Heh. Yay for snow days! While I'm typing this, it's begun hailing... yay winter storms, aye? Ha. Oh, there's an idea... but no, nothing like that is gonna happen... or is it? Nahhh. OR IS IT? Bye-bye girl with an awesome name~!

**Erizabeth**: Haha yay! And thanks~! Everything will be explained in due time~

**KireiYamiKitsune19**: Heh, poor you... and poor Antonio. Don't worry, though, his suspense will either be alleviated or deepened in this chapter... Yay, I'm glad you like it! Heh, I always loved brotherly Ita-bros who are protective of each other. It's adorable~!

Hope you enjoy!

SS Out~

* * *

Later that night, when Antonio went into the dark bedroom, he glanced around and closed the door behind him. He stood there, allowing his eyes to adjust to the darkness, and watched as shaped emerged from he shadows. Once he was able to see, he looked at Lovino's bed.

The Italian in question was laying in his own bed, though he didn't seem in a good way. His fists were clenched tightly and his eyes screwed shut, as though he was in pain still. Antonio frowned at this thought. He'd been sure that it should have disappeared by then.

Instead of standing there questioning it, the Spanish prince made his way over to his own bed and settled down. He silently watched Lovino for a few minutes more, wondering yet again _what are you all not telling me?_

Lovino didn't go to school the next day.

* * *

On Friday, Antonio woke up to the strange alarm as he always did. He watched Lovino stir and pull himself out of bed, silently wondering if the younger boy would be going to school that day.

After the door to the bathroom closed, Antonio got up himself and went to take a shower in the upstairs bathroom. Then he headed downstairs.

As with most mornings, he found Lovino with his brothers. Both of his brothers seemed to have calmed down from the last couple of days, but they still seemed a bit worried.

Antonio stepped aside to let them enjoy their peace, but then their conversation caught his attention;

"Nonno said he's taking me to the doctor tomorrow, don't worry Feli."

"B-but, Fratello, if your head is hurting, it could get worse at school and if the medicine isn't working..."

"Feli, calm down," Lovino sighed. "He'll probably just up the dose. There's nothing I can do about it, and I'll be _damned_ if I live like an invalid all the time."

"Our parents could help," Marcello spoke up. "They have enough money... they-"

"-don't care nearly enough to pay for something that expensive for me," Lovino finished off. "You hear their argument every time something like that happens." Lovino's tone changed into a deeper one, as he was evidently quoting his grandfather. "'You should pay for the operation! You're his parents and you have enough!'" His tone changed again, into a horribly-mocked higher one... obviously his mother. "'Do you know how expensive that is?! We wouldn't be able to send Feliciano to Racelli's Institute of the Fine Arts if we pay for that!'"

The three brothers sighed in unison, and then Feliciano muttered, "I don't even _want_ to go to Racelli's..."

"I know," Lovino said. "That's why I didn't feel bad bringing that into my mocking. It just shows our parents' stupidity." Feliciano giggled slightly. Glancing through the opening, Antonio could see all three brothers had a small grin on, and they all looked at least slightly amused.

Antonio stepped lightly away from the door, having a feeling he overheard a conversation they _really_ didn't want him hearing. He decided to go a few rooms over and stare at the grandfather clock.

_Medicine?_ he wondered to himself. _Is that what Feliciano asked abou the other day? 'Did you remember to'... take his medicine? Is that it? It would make sense... he gets up early every day, even on weekends, disappears sometime after one, and every night at eight he disappears again... this clock only chimes at eight. Is it to inform Lovi and his family it's time to take medicine? I don't understand... He seems healthy enough, if it wasn't for yesterday I would have never believed_-

"Hey bastard, there you are," Lovino's voice chimed in from behind the prince, startling him. Antonio turned around to face Lovino. "Breakfast is ready, come on before I let Marcello and Feliciano eat your share." Then the Italian was gone back through the door. After a few moments of silence, the Spaniard followed.

Breakfast wasn't tense, so Antonio knew they didn't know he had overheard their conversation. _I'll ask them about it later_, he decided, watching the three brothers talk and tease.

Suddenly Lovino turned to look at him. "The fuck are you so quiet for?" This startled Antonio.

"O-oh, I'm being quiet?" Antonio asked sheepishly. "I don't know, I guess I have a lot on my mind..."

"Ah, yes, new places to explore, new people to meet!" Feliciano giggled happily. "I guess I'd be thinking about a lot of things if I was in Madrid! Vee~"

Lovino rolled his eyes. "You'll tell me the truth at lunch," he simply muttered, turning back to his breakfast.

_I hope I won't_, Antonio thought to himself. He had a feeling Lovino might make a scene if he revealed what he overheard.

* * *

They had a test in calculus, which Antonio knew he only passed thanks to Lovino, and in literature their teacher was dressed like a steampunk artist. Even Antonio thought the man was weird. There was also a test in history, but Antonio easily aced that. He'd learned a lot about history years before marriage was even a thought in his _parents_' minds... okay, maybe not that far, but still...

Cooking, which was by far Antonio's favourite class after discovering he actually had the skill for it, came and went without any incidences... except Alfred and Arthur's dish catching on fire, but that happened every day so no one was really concerned with it.

Then it was lunch.

Antonio was a bit nervous as he sat down with his container of tomato salad. Yes, tomato salad, deal with it.

Across from him Lovino sat down and just _stared_ at Antonio. The Spaniard shifted slightly. "Sí?" he asked, really hoping Lovino would let it drop. He did _not_ want to have this conversation at school.

"First question," Lovino suddenly started, "why are you still hanging around me? You know your way to all your classes, the path between here and home, why aren't you trying to make other friends and _find a fucking wife already_?"

That wasn't what Antonio expected. He thought for a few moments and shrugged. "I still have all school year. Besides, I don't want you to be all alone."

"There's a reason I sit alone," Lovino grumbled. "And you should start now, get to know your future queen or co-king or whatever the hell you're into."

"Well, I will, I just... don't see anyone who catches my eye," Antonio informed him. "No one's exactly approached me to talk in a friendly manner-"

"-because you hang out with me-"

"-and even yesterday some girl tripped me and sneered at me," Antonio finished off as though Lovino didn't even speak. "She said something in Spanish but she said it really bad and I didn't understand what she said, and when I said as much she laughed at me and said she bet I wasn't even a Spaniard. She was mean!"

"Sounds like Astrid bitch," Lovino muttered. "She tried befriending me to get closer to Feli, when she found out he was gay she flipped her shit and blamed me for it."

"Eh? Feli is gay?" Antonio seemed surprised. Lovino gave him a 'you're fucking kidding me' look. "Well, I guess I _did_ guess that, but I thought you were joking when you called Ludwig his boyfriend."

"No. I wasn't joking. But don't tell our parents, they'll get all pissy and like Astrid bitch, they'll blame me for it," Lovino told him. "_Now_, next question. Why are you acting weird today?"

"I told you this morning, I have a lot on my mind. About, you know, all this... finding a spouse thing..."

"Don't fucking lie to me, _Príncipe,_" Lovino growled, looking annoyed. "I want to know what's really on your mind." Antonio hesitated.

"Do you really?"

"Yes."

"Really really?"

"Just fucking tell me already."

"Do you promise not to get mad?"

"... I won't promise something stupid like that, bastard."

"Well... I'll run if it looks like you're going to attack me," he finally decided, glancing towards the cafeteria doors. "I... kind of overheard your conversation this morning." He braced himself...

"... That's it?" Antonio blinked in surprised and looked at Lovino.

"Um... Sí?"

"Idiot. I thought you'd have known after what happened Wednesday," Lovino stated, rolling his eyes. "I actually thought you'd know before then, but definitely after."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Antonio finally asked. "I mean, it seemed you were pretty determined to hide it from me."

"It was none of your business, anything I did to 'hide' it from you was me not dragging you into my family's business," Lovino stated simply. "You don't need to know the details."

"What if I do?" Antonio shot right back. "What if something like the other day had happened when we were alone and I didn't know what was going on? I don't have a phone, Lovino, I wouldn't be able to call your grandfather or brothers to find out what was wrong. I didn't even know you took medicine, though thinking about it now it's pretty damn obvious."

Lovino frowned, looking at him with an odd expression. He opened his mouth, about to comment on something, when someone else walked up to their table. Both the prince and the aristocrat looked up at Arthur, who looked rather sheepish. "Yes?" Lovino asked.

"I was wondering if you wouldn't mind me sitting here. Alfred and that damn Frog have gotten on my last nerve..." Arthur trailed off. Antonio wasn't stupid, he knew Arthur had noticed the little... disagreement they were having. Lovino seemed to know it too, but he waved his hand anyway.

"Yea, sure, go ahead, I was getting annoyed with nothing but this bastard's company anyway," Lovino grumbled, shooting Antonio a look that clearly said _this isn't over._


End file.
